


you're the fire and the flood

by pitchblackkoi



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, I promise this time its fairly soft kidnapping instead of mean angsty kidnapping, Kidnapping, M/M, Mutual Pining, you ever just get kidnapped because your family is dicks to people who have superpowers?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 10:09:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18914827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pitchblackkoi/pseuds/pitchblackkoi
Summary: Hamid gets kidnapped by a group of pro-atypical people because his family is famously vocally anti-atypical. The catch? Hamid himself is atypical and can't use his powers to escape without outing himself to his family and the whole world. How is he going to get out of this one?





	you're the fire and the flood

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roswyrm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roswyrm/gifts).



The thing that people don’t tell you about being kidnapped is that, honestly, it is incredibly boring. Hamid has been sitting here alone in a room and tied to a chair for what feels like forever, but has probably only been a few hours. He is actively trying  _ not  _ to look bored, as most rich boys who had been kidnapped by a group of pro-atypical fanatics would actually be quite scared. Of course, most rich boys cannot turn their hands into claws and tear through the rope tying them to the chair but, you know, details. 

He knows that there are cameras hidden everywhere (the publicity is sort of the point of this whole exercise) and so he has to school his face into one of at least mild panic. It isn’t hard, all things considered. Hamid is fairly anxious in general and this situation isn’t fun, even if he is quite bored at this point. 

There are plenty of reasons to be anxious, really, just none of the normal “I’ve been kidnapped and my life is in danger” reasons. The first is wondering what his very vocally anti-atypical family is going to do about this situation. He hopes they don’t give these guys any money. They don’t deserve it. Then there is hoping that none of his captors try to actually  _ injure  _ him. Not out of fear of being hurt, they have already been rough enough to give him a few bruises, but because if they do anything  _ too  _ rough he may have to actually retaliate, which would out his as atypical and blow his secret identity.

There is, of course, the third reason, which his kidnappers are banking on. A hero may come to save him. This isn’t too bad of an option, really, and is probably how he will get out of this situation but there are several directions it could go in. It could be someone he has never worked with, which is ideal and means he won’t feel as bad when he has to play up his distaste for them. It could be someone that he  _ has  _ worked with, like Shadow or Silvershot or Valkyrie. Acting like he hates them would be bad, but he at least could trust that they are (mostly) competent and would get him out of here safely.

There is just so much to consider and nothing but time to think about it. Hamid almost wishes his captors would come back so that he can have some sort of stimulation, but he actually isn’t all that keen on listening to them call him a bigot while also saying all sorts of terrible things about his family. They also have a tendency to manhandle him, probably because he is quite small so it is pretty easy (which he  _ knows  _ but it’s still rude). 

Hamid is thinking about taking a nap (he was on patrol last night and didn’t really get to sleep before he got snatched) when he hears a commotion coming from a nearby hallway. His immediate first thought is  _ Oh, thank the gods. I didn’t think I would get out of here for another few hours at least. _ Then he really listens and realizes the sounds he’s hearing are extremely familiar. But it isn’t Valkyrie’s heavy hitting or Silvershot’s speed. No, it is the sounds of  _ moving water _ . 

Hamid hadn’t even considered this as a possibility. It seemed too impossible. This is either the Best Outcome or the Nightmare Scenario and he doesn’t know which. It’s  _ Zolf _ . Zolf is coming to get him, despite the fact that Riptide officially went into retirement  _ months ago _ . Unless there’s some other hero with water powers running around that he doesn’t know about that is the only possible explanation. 

On one hand, Hamid would love to see Zolf again. He’s missed him since he retired and been wondering how he’s been doing. He does  _ want  _ to see him. But on the other hand, does Zolf know how dangerous it was for him to come out of retirement just to rescue him? The man has had some terrible plans before but this is something else to be sure. 

It doesn’t take long for Zolf to dispatch of the guards (which is just as well, to be honest, they weren’t very well trained) and enter the room. He looks just as Hamid remembers him, the dark wetsuit-like material that goes to mid thigh, showing off legs made entirely of water from the knee down. He looks into the mask covering Zolf’s eyes and feels the urge to start crying, but holds it back because he  _ can’t  _ here. Not without the potential of outing himself publicly as an atypical sympathizer at the very least.

Zolf looks just as dumbfounded, though he shouldn’t given that he was the one who came here with the express purpose of rescuing Hamid. He starts making his way slowly towards him, as if he thinks that Hamid will disappear if he moves too fast. When Zolf finally reaches him, he reaches a hand to tenderly touch Hamid’s cheek. As much as he wants to lean into the touch, he forces himself to flinch away. He gives a glare and flicks his eyes over to one of the cameras in the room and then back to Zolf with a meaningful look. 

That makes Zolf look at the camera and startle. He slides his hand away from his face and Hamid already misses the warmth. He rounds the chair and begins to work at the knots. It takes a few seconds and then Hamid’s free.

“C’mon,” Zolf says (and  _ gods  _ that is the first thing he has heard the man say in months), taking him by the arm. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Hamid goes willingly, though he does school his expression into one of practiced disdain. Pretending he hates Zolf  _ hurts  _ because he doesn’t actually know where the two of them stand right now. So Hamid keeps vigilant, looks around for cameras. Having spent so long alone in that room made it so that he knows what the hidden cameras here look like and how to find them. 

When they round a corner where Hamid doesn’t see any cameras, he tugs Zolf’s arm and drags him into a hug. They are both short men, but Zolf is still significantly taller than him so it’s a bit of a struggle to properly get his arms around the man until he stoops over to hug Hamid back.  He buries his face into Zolf’s shoulder.

“I cannot believe you came out of retirement to rescue me,” he almost sobs into Zolf’s shoulder. “That was so  _ stupid  _ of you.”

Zolf pulls back a little and cups Hamid’s face in both hands while looking at him tenderly. “I wasn’t just going to leave you in danger when I could do something about it. I could never do that.” 

He scrunches up his nose and frowns. “You shouldn’t have put yourself in danger for me! I mean,  _ my family  _ is involved. And you came out of retirement just to save me! The press will talk-”

“I don’t care,” Zolf cuts him off. “I really don’t, as long as you’re safe.”

There’s a long silence as Hamid just stares at him with wide eyes. He  _ really  _ means that. Zolf is being utterly sincere and looking down at Hamid with this soft, open expression and Hamid has  _ really  _ missed him, for a lot of reasons. One of which is feelings that he thinks might be reciprocated? It doesn’t matter, though, not right now. They don’t have a lot of time before people will get suspicious. 

Hamid draws Zolf into one last hug, savoring it while he can. “Come find me after the media frenzy is over, alright? I missed you,” he whispers.

“Of course,” Zolf replies, and Hamid can feel the smile against his neck. “I missed you, too.”

Hamid pulls away and decides at the last moment to give Zolf a kiss on the cheek. Zolf lifts a shocked hand to his face and looks up at Hamid. 

He grins. “I’d better see you later, alright?”

Zolf nods dumbly and watches as Hamid rushes down one of the halls and out of the building to face the public. This whole thing was a disaster, but  _ some  _ good things came out of this whole thing, at the very least.

**Author's Note:**

> roswyrm yelled at me about this au and dragged me in by broadly describing this scene (because I apparently have a very specific niche). Then I found out they weren't actually planning on writing this specific scene, so I had to take matters into my own hands. I just want Zolf and Hamid to be soft and gay, alright?   
> You can find me at pitchblackkoi on tumblr and twitter.


End file.
